Can a Swift 3 overtake its rival Aspire 5 A514-52G?
Here, in this article, I'm gonna show you something weird. A device of the same manufacturer will fight. Both of them are popular budget laptops to buy in India under Rs 60,000. So, stay tuned till the end of this article to find out the one which has a guts to win this face-off.
Acer's Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Aspire 5 A514-52G Face-off
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Price and availability
In terms of price, the Swift 3 is almost Rs 6,000 more costly than Aspire device. The prices are subject to change over time. So, find out the right one by the links below.
Here, the exact version of Aspire laptop isn't available on Flipkart. And, the Swift 3 is cheaper on Flipkart compared to Amazon India. So, I recommend you to see it first. So, the winner for this round is finalized.
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire A514-52G: Specs compared
| Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 | Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i5-1035G1 | Intel Core i5-1035G1 |
| Graphics | Integrated Intel UHD | NVIDIA MX350 2GB |
| RAM | 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 | 2666MHz 8GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 512GB SSD | 512GB SSD |
| Display | 14-inch FHD IPS | 14-inch FHD IPS |
| Battery | 7 hrs 21 mins | 7 hrs 6 mins |
| Dimensions | 32 x 21.7 x 1.6 cms | 32.8 x 23.6 x 1.8 cms |
| Weight | 1.19 kg | 1.6 kg |
| Ports | Thunderbolt-3 | USB Type-C |
Both laptops are very similar in specs. The main difference is in the graphics. Also, you will find more different ports in both machines. As the performance is what we look at first, I'll give it to a first priority. Hence, you probably know which one is the winner.
Winner: Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G.
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Design
First, look at both laptops. The Swift 3 looks more premium quality compared to Acer Aspire 5.
Both laptops have different build quality. Acer Swift 3 is made of all-metal. However, all-build doesn't consist of one metal. The display lid is made of aluminium whereas the rest is made of magnesium-aluminium alloy.
On the other hand, the Aspire 5 is made of all-plastic. Despite the plastic build, Acer's laptop is quite solid and sturdy enough.
Both laptops are also little bit different in terms of dimensions. The swift 3 is 2mm slimmer than the Aspire 5. Also, it's almost 400 grams lightweight to hold.
The bottom of both laptops consists of air intake vents. However, the A514-52G has little bit awkward placement. Anyway.
I've presented all important aspects regarding the build quality of both machines. And, now is the time to declare one a winner of this round.
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Display
In this round, I will take size, resolution, nits, colour gamut, panel, and contrast ratio into consideration.
Both laptops have a 14-inch FHD (1980 x 1080) resolution display with an IPS panel. So, you gonna get good viewing angles in both' displays. But, there are many things are still not common in both machines. And, that must be addressed.
| Swift 3 | Aspire 5 |
|---|---|
| The colour gamut are SRGB: 58% AdobeRGB: 36% NTSC: 35% | The colour gamut are SRGB: 64% AdobeRGB: 39% NTSC: 36% |
| Display nits at 100% brightness: 264. | Display nits at 100% brightness: 242. |
| Screen contrast ratio is 1170:1. | The same is just 763:1. |
| Side bezels are 4.5mm thin. | Side bezels are 8.5mm thick. |
Both laptops have disappointing screen colour gamut. As a result, both are not recommend for professional photo and video editing. However, Aspire 5 laptop has little bit higher colour gamut than SF314-57 laptop. So, it definitely gonna produce more colourful results than A514-52G.
In addition to that, Swift 3's display much more bright than the Aspire 5. It's to note that, At thanalysis, we recommend at least 300 nits display to see the content of screen in direct sunlight without pain in the eyes.
The contrast ratio of Swift 3 is higher than the Aspire 5, even higher than the lower value we recommend at Thanalysis. So, it gonna great for you in gaming. Although, it's damn true that due to lack of a dedicated graphics, it's not possible to play high-end games. But, you can go with tiny.
So, who will be winner?
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Keyboard and Touchpad
In this round, the face-off will happen at different angels like typing experience, keyboard build quality, backlit, and touchpad.
Both laptop chiclet keyboard with black colour keys. The keys have white colour fonts including the secondary function symbols.
Also, both are coming with a white backlit. And, that's what we recommend in 2021. The laptop's keyboard must have at least single level backlit. In fact, we consider backlit as a major factor while calculating the final score.
This round of face-off doesn’t end here. Many things remain to consider. In the following table, I'm gonna compare addition important qualities of the keyboard of both machines.
| Swift 3 | Aspire 5 |
|---|---|
| 1.5mm of consistent key's travel | 1.5mm of consistent key's travel |
| Good tactile feedback. | Good tactile feedback. |
| It has total of 6 keys which are small and messy placed. | It has also total of 6 keys which are small and messy placed. |
| On this laptop, my typing speed was 84WPM. | On this laptop, my typing speed was 86WPM. |
I have tested the typing speed on 10fastfingers.com. I would like tell you that on the Macbook Pro 16-inch, I got 101WPM speed. Macbook's magic keyboard is really pretty awesome one.
Furthermore, both laptops have a common placement of a "Power" button. It is placed next to the "Delete" button. But, don't worry. It's not gonna create problem while typing since you've to long press it in both laptops to execute the function assigned to it.
The touchpad is still remains to consider before I end this round.
Both laptops have a 4.1-inch wider touchpad. It's smooth, responsive, and accurate. Also, it does support Windows precision drivers. Furthermore, both laptops have a plastic made one. So, the trackpad isn't gonna make any difference.
As you can see both laptops share quite similarities which make it really hard for me to decide the final winner.
Winner: Draw
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Ports
Both laptops have USB 3.1 and 2.0 ports including 3.5mm audio/combo jack. But, I’m interested to see something more.
I’m looking for the thunderbolt-3 port which only Swift 3 has. The Aspire 5 laptop has only a USB Type-C port. Furthermore, Swift 3’s thunderbolt-3 port also support charging.
Furthermore, the placement of a 3.5mm audio/combo jack is perfectly fine in both laptops. Guess, who is the winner?
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Performance and graphics
This face-off will look at different angles in both laptops like CPU, GPU, several benchmark tests, and many more. So, let’s start with the CPU first.
Both laptops have the same Intel Core i5-1035G1 processor. In the first sight, it looks like this round will go draw. But, performance doesn’t mean the processor. Hence, I’ve conducted several benchmark tests like Cinebench R20, Geekbench 5, and PCMark 10.
There's one thing I forgot to tell you that the Swift 3 can be overclocked maximum up to 3.6GHz whereas Aspire 5 can be up to 4.2GHz.
Let's compare some CPU benchmarks.
| Swift 3 SF314-57 | Aspire 5 A514-52G | |
|---|---|---|
| Cinebench single core score | 411 | 415 |
| Cinebench multi core score | 1142 | 1187 |
| Geekbench 5 single core score | 1180 | 1061 |
| Geekbench 5 multi core score | 3674 | 3789 |
| CPU speed during stress test | 2675MHz | 2876MHz |
It looks like the Aspire A514-52G is giving a more higher performance than Swift 3. Also, look at the comparison of CPU temperature profile below.
| Swift 3 | Aspire 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| At idle | 47 degrees Celsius | 48 degrees Celsius |
| During stress test | 81 degrees Celsius | 81 degrees Celsius |
| CPU stress test with a cooling pad | 80 degrees Celsius | 80 degrees Celsius |
You can see both machines have shown a very identical CPU temperature profiles. Also, the cooling pad is useless for both Swift 3 SF314-57 and Aspire 5 A514-52G laptops.
Last, let’s check the video export time.
I’ve exported the 16 minutes and 13 seconds long video in YouTube 4K H.264 preset and repeated the same test 4 times further to find out the average video export time in Adobe Premiere CC. See the comparison in the below table.
| Swift 3 | Aspire 5 | |
|---|---|---|
| Test 1 | 1817 secs | 1401 secs |
| Test 2 | 1816 secs | 1398 secs |
| Test 3 | 1817 secs | 1399 secs |
| Test 4 | 1817 secs | 1400 secs |
| Test 5 | 1817 secs | 1399 secs |
| Average | 1816.8 secs | 1399.4 secs |
So, Aspire 5 laptop is very fast in video export compared to the Swift 3.
In addition to that, the Aspire 5 laptop has a dedicated graphics which allow gaming compared to Swift 3 SF314-57. So, the winner for this round is finalized.
Winner: Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Battery
Battery life is one of the most important factors the face-off round must include. And I’ve included it.
Let's compare it.
| Swift 3 SF314-57 | Aspire 5 A514-52G | |
|---|---|---|
| Capacity | 48Wh | 48Wh |
| Battery life during YouTube | 7 hours 21 minutes | 7 hours 6 minutes |
| Battery life during stress test | 1 hour 29 minutes | 1 hour 23 minutes |
Despite the same capacity, battery is lasting a little longer in the Swift 3. So, this round will favour it.
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Camera and microphone
Both machines have a 720p camera and a microphone integrated at the top bezel of the laptop.
But, the quality differs in both. We've rate Swift 3's camera and mic 4 out of 10 whereas Aspire 5 got only 3 ratings out of 10. Also, none of them support Windows hello unlock. It's to note that Swift 3 has a fingerprint reader just below the arrow keys. And, it supports Windows Hello unlock - pretty awesome. At thanalysis, we recommend laptop with an average quality camera and microphone.
So, the winner is.....
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
Acer Swift 3 SF314-57 vs. Acer Aspire 5 A514-52G: Wireless connectivity
We recommend Intel Wi-Fi 6 for the laptop you buy in 2021.
In this face-off, this round favours Acer Swift 3 because it’s been equipped with latest Intel Wi-Fi 6 and a Bluetooth version 5. On the other hand, Aspire 5 A514-52G has just a traditional old Wi-Fi 5 and Bluetooth version 5.
So, who won this round? You may be got an answer.
Winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57.
Overall winner: Acer Swift 3 SF314-57
| Round | Swift 3 SF314-57 | Aspire 5 A514-52G |
|---|---|---|
| Price & availability | Winner | Loser |
| Specs | Loser | Winner |
| Design | Winner | Loser |
| Display | Winner | Loser |
| Keyboard and touchpad | Draw | Draw |
| Ports | Winner | Loser |
| Performance and graphics | Loser | Winner |
| Battery | Winner | Loser |
| Camera and mic | Winner | Loser |
| Wireless connectivity | Winner | Loser |
So, the face-off ends now with favouring the Swift 3 SF314-57 in 7 rounds out of 10.
